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Literary Intelligence.

found necessary to present copies gratuitously to those likewise. The Selection has been thus introduced into the three Churches with the most perfect good understanding of all parties; and it is hoped that the manner in which this important suit bas terminated, will be the means of essentially promoting the general good of religion, and the best interests of the Church of England.

BRITISH ENGRAVERS.

An Exhibition of the works of living British Engravers will be opened in Soho Square in the middle of April, under the immediate patronage of His Majesty, by direction of the Committee of Engravers, under whose superintendance the Exhibition will take place. The attempt at thus bringing into notice the labours of British Engravers has met with the strongest encouragement from very many of the Nobility and Gentry who are most conversant in works of the nature proposed to be exhibited.

PRINTING WITH PORCELAIN IN THE
GLAZED STATE.

G. W. observes, in reply to the remarks of the Philosophical Magazine, that if Mr. Tilloch "will apply a mixture of oxide of iron and a small portion of flux, just sufficient to make it adhere to the glazed porcelain when baked, he will find that the figure drawn will have a rough surface, upon passing his finger over it, and the glaze of the porcelain remains smooth, and the degree of roughness is owing to the matter used being finer or coarser ground. Now by rubbing over it, or charging as a copper-plate, and afterwards cleaning it off, the composition will only adhere to the rough part which you have drawn, and from the smooth part of the glaze will wipe off. When dry, by drawing over it a wet sponge, as usual, the glaze of the porcelain will receive sufficient moisture to resist the printer's ink, while the prepared part will hold it: but it is necessary to moisten it every time, and likewise to perform the operation in a damp place. I have done several pieces on thick plate glass for the like purpose, which answers, equally with the glazed porcelain."

ICELANDIC LITERATURE.

By a report of the Literary Society of Iceland, the grand Icelandic work is nearly finished, called Sturbringa Sega, forming 120 sheets. A general geography of the island is also published; and a collection of the works of the poets who have adorned their native land, with their productions, is getting ready for the press.

GREEK LITERATURE.

Two works have lately appeared at Constantinople, which give us a very favourable notion of the progress of knowledge among the Greeks. One is the first part of a dictionary, in folio, of the Ancient and

[March,

Modern Greek; the other is an elegant translation into Modern Greek of Voltaire's romance of Zadig. The former, when complete, will consist of six volumes folio. It is printed under the superintendance of that virtuous patriarch, Gregory, and is patronised by all the archbishops and bishops of Greece. The editor is M. Iskenteri, who has already translated into the same language the Voyage of Antenor.

POLISH LITERARY SOCIETY.

M. Stanislaus Staszie, president of the Polish Literary Society, lately made a report on the labours of that body for the last eight years. The society was founded in 1800, under the Prussian government. It had for its object, to fix the national language, to preserve the history of the country, to study its topography, statistics, and natural history, and to encourage among the Poles the arts and sciences. Its labours, in regard to language, have been directed to the establisment of a system of orthography and pronunciation, and to compose a national grammar, and compile a complete dictionary of the Polish tongue. In history, it has consulted a great mass of the archives of the country, the ancient monuments, genealogy, medals, &c. &c.; and an abridgment has already been published for the use of youth. In the sciences, its researches have been directed to those which are most useful, the mines, a geognostic map of the entire country, the making cochineal, the formation of amber, &c. In regard to the latter substance, one of the members of the society, possessor of a mine of that substance, insists that it is a vegetable production, a fossile resin, from a certain tree, the fruit of which resembled the pine-apple, and that amber is most commonly found in a mass near where the trunks of these trees have been. In agri. culture, improved instruments have been introduced by the society, to displace the ancient ones. The medical department has also displayed great activity; and there is no doubt but the efforts of the society will, in a little time, be found most extensively useful in that fine but unfortunate country.

In 1818 a printing press was set up in Hobart's Town, Van Dieman's Land, New Holland. The first book from this press is the history of a fugitive exile, named Michael Horne, who at the head of 28 other runaways disturbed the tranquillity of the colony for six years. The work derives importance from the singularity of this circumstance, and from the story.

A German of the name of Kastner has written two works that may justly be called a short cut to the learned languages. One of these is the art of learning Greek in two months!!

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On the front, is sculptured, in relief, the figure of a man standing upright on his left leg, with the right thrown across it, and the toe pointing downwards. His right arm crosses his body, and, resting the elbow upon a pillar or staff, supports, on the opposite side, the elbow of the left arm, the hand of which supports the head. -The whole is surrounded by a raised border or moulding.

The second is a rudely-carved head of large size, and coarse features, with the hair turned backwards, standing on a very short pedestal.

The third is an image in a flowing dress, about two feet and a half high, with the bands crossed, and locked before the body. The head of this last was broken from the body, but found afterwards lying close to the other part.

The first appears to be of Roman origin, for the following reasons.

1st. They were found on the exact line of the Roman road, from Manchester to Chester, and a few hundred yards to the Southward, from the station in the Castlefield adjoining.

2dly. An altar of the 6th Legio Victrix, and several coins, and pieces of Roman antiquity, have, at various times, been found in the same township, and within very short distances around the spot where these were discovered.

3dly. They are formed of the dark brown grit stone of the neighbourhood, consequently not brought from a distance. And 4tbly. It is known to have been GENT. MAG. March, 1821.

usual for the Romans to erect, without the boundaries of the stations, where they were in garrison, votive altars, and centurial, and other stones, to the honour of favourite deities, and in commemoration of events.

As it is without inscription, it is impossible to offer any probable conjecture as to its purport, or the intention of the erector.

The two others, perhaps, are of a more doubtful kind, and have the appearance rather of the Gothic ornaments of an antient Church, than the classic sculpture of a Roman artist.

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PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRIES.

The novelty and ingenuity of the following Philosophical remarks, extracted from Mr. W. Colquitt's System of the Universe, will excite attention.

"Of all the liberal sciences, that which promotes the maintenance of truth, must promote virtue; hence is it necessary that we make use of our sight as well as our senses, and not to perplex the mind about things invisible and incomprehensible, there being no such thing as up or down, ascension or descension, in the round universe.

"The galaxy or pure heavens being the everlasting and generating source of all matter, forms a perfect circle, by whose circulation the stars keep their places, (every particle of matter has a tendency to unite with its own species) this law of Nature being admitted, universal order and harmony must prevail throughout the whole. The fixed stars are equally supplied with electric fire in proportion as they emit forth the same into the planetary regions (no comets or planets falling into the sun, or destroying the earth). The sun, who is near nine hundred thousand miles in diameter, is the most mighty, the most magnificent, the most splendid and pure body in the solar system, the Creator and Ruler of every thing contained therein, since nothing but what hath life, light, heat, and motion in itself, can impart form, and endue animals and plants with the same faculties. Hence the sun emits forth his vivifying light and heat into the planetary regions. The sun and the stars consist of the most pure matter in Nature, by the accumulation of their respective ingredients. The planets, the dross as it were of the heavens, are the accumulation of the more heavy and aqueous parts of terrestrial matter, as nothing but matter can act on matter, agreeable to truth and the orderly course of Nature; so that the earth, like an onion, with strata over strata, hath, from her least magnitude, always had a rotation round her axis, and received the electric heat and light in every particle of matter she consists of, which was the cause of the various compounds and colours of minerals and metals. The Chinese, who make the age of the earth seven million five hundred and two thousand years, appear to have had a knowledge of geology before the Europeans, and a more natural knowledge of the nature of things.

"By the rotary motion of the earth, and the sun's absorbing powers, light, heat, and electricity, doth grass, animals, and plants grow, producing their beautiful Aowers and fruits. He, the joy of the

whole earth, dispels the darkness that covers her (yet was there never darkness, except in the nocturnal shadow of a planet). The sun is saluted in the morning by the wise and good, by the melody of birds and sweet opening flowers, and all things which adorn the surface of the earth; he moderates the atmosphere with light, and in wisdom collects and dissipates the storms, dividing the interstices of dark clouds, producing lightning and thunder, and, by relaxation, pours the rains to fertilize the fields and woods, and then shews us the light of his countenance, and all is light and cheerfulness. At the brightness of his presence his clouds passed: hailstones and coals of fire.-Psalm xviii. 12.

"In the more distant parts of the solar system, where the dense and more crowded particles of terrestrial matter were congregated, they have, at length, become a perfect sphere, and being crystallized, petrified, and consolidated by the sun, as she accumulates, in time becomes a planet; in this gradual and orderly manner hath the earth, and all the planets been formed. After the sulphureous and volcanic matter near to, and on the surface of the earth, was in a great measure consumed, which was the cause of gulphs, deep pits, and the uneven surface of the earth, heavy rains at seasonable times prevailed, until the hollow parts were filled with water, which covers three-fifths of the earth's surface.

"The reason that our earth is encompassed with a more dense atmosphere than Mars and Jupiter, arises, from there being a greater quantity of water in the orbit of the earth, than in the orbits of those planets. 1 shall not presume to confine Nature to time or place in the operation of her works, since Time is eternal, Space boundless, and Matter everlasting; neither shall I make every star a sun, knowing that one star differeth from another star in lustre, magnitude, and solidity, and magnetic power: therefore, I shall only declare every star of the first magnitude a sun and the centre of a system, having from three to ten planets circulating round him.

"Exclusive of the dark planets, which are formed, illumined, moved, and preserved by the sun, and in order turn round him; there are other bodies of superior elements and composition, as comets, which are capable of enduring as much heat as would immediately consume this or any other planet, and are endued with greater power of motion than that of any other body throughout the starry firmament. Comets are luminous

bodies,

1821.] Philosophical and Astronomical Inquiries.

:

bodies, independent of the solar powers, and always emit forth their electric fire, forming a tail of great length, directed in opposition to the sun. Hence do I conclude that a comet is a solid, inflammable, living body for if a snake, with only one member, the head, hath power to move with velocity on this heavy mass, how much more fit is it that a comet must have life, strength, and power, and these qualities in a superior degree, to move in his own proper district, and to leave this our system to visit the nearest fixed star of the first magnitude.

"Therefore, as such order and harmony prevail among the fixed stars and planetary regions, I conclude, (as I well know) that the same order prevails among the comets; that if we were visited with a comet every year, and there were more planets in our system, not one of them would be impeded in her motion, as the comets, as well as the planets, have their own particular tracts and boundaries, accelerating his motion as he draws near to the sun. The want of a diurnal parallax, shews that comets move beyond the orbit of the Georgian.

"There never was a beginning of light, or a vacuum throughout the universe. If otherwise, the fixed stars could not keep their places, neither could the planets (subservient to them) perform their annual orbits, and that universal affinity, order, and harmony prevail, which I perceive do prevail throughout the whole, adjusted with that regularity of parts as the best time-piece.

"With respect to the heavenly bodies, of which this earth is one, none can be suddenly formed-none can be suddenly destroyed.

"As all planets contract their orbits in the insensible progress of time, Mercury must be the oldest planet in the solar system, and the ages of the other planets in proportion to their distances from the sun. Hence may Mercury be in her consuming state; the nearer any planet is to the sun, the greater will be her motion in her orbit; and the slower her diurnal rotation, and the more distant, the slower in their orbits, and faster round their axes.

"Venus, like this earth, is subject to much rain and change of seasons.

"The surface of Mars appears covered with extensive plains and mountains, issuing volcanic fire (like our earth formerly was), therefore may have not received rain and torrents to finish and accommodate her with seas and lakes.

"The seas of Jupiter, called his belts, frequently change their parallelism in consequence of his rapid motion round his axis, once in ten hours. If I now lived in this planet near the sea, I should see it ebb and flow like our sea, only with

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double the motion, and should find that it was high water every five hours; and at that part of his body where his nearest moon was, I should perceive an inequality of the tides, and the water rising higher; this planet being eighty-eight thousand miles in breadth.

"The use of Saturn's ring, which consists of two solid circles, one within the other, appears to be a crystallization of similar matter to the planet, of a bright yellow colour, for the purpose of reflecting and refracting a strong light every fifteen years, when in opposition to the sun, and to reflect the solar light and heat in alternate order over every part of the planet, and to confine and moderate his atmosphere and his seasons at the distance of nine hundred millions of miles from the sun; seventy nine thousand miles in breadth, having six moons that circulate round him.

"The Moon, like all the planets, is an opaque globe, and always contracting her orbit; and being, like the satellites of Jupiter and Saturn, without clouds and atmosphere, reflects a greater quantity of light to the earth. The inequality of the moon's motions arises from the rapid motion of the earth in her orbit round the sun, while the moon circulates round the earth, and which causes an inequality of the tides, called spring and neap tides, three-fifths of the earth's surface being overflowed, and the moon being an arid dry body, causes that mutual attractive power between them."

ASTRONOMY.

Baron Lindeuau has recently published some observations respecting the diminution of the solar mass. It will be found, be says, that the sun may have been imperceptibly subject to successive diminution since the science of astronomy has been cultivated. Baron Lindenau supposes the sun's diameter to be 800,000 miles -4,204,000,000 feet - or nearly 2000 seconds. We have not, he observes, hitherto possessed any instrument for measuring the diameter of the heavenly bodies to a second. The sun may therefore diminish 12,000 of its diameter, or 2,102,000 feet, without the possibility of being perceived. Supposing the sun to diminish daily two feet, it would require three thousand years to render the diminution of a second of its diameter visible.

THE POLES.

The Pole of the world has usually been considered as the coldest point; but Dr. Brewster, in a paper recently read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, has proved that there are two poles of maximum cold, situated at a distance from the Pole, and in the meridian, passing through North America and Siberia.

SELE

SELECT POETRY.

JOHANNI NICHOLS, DE SEPTUAGESIMO

SEPTIMO NATALI, CARMINA.

GENERIS decus humani, Sylvane perite--

Quamvis corpus iners, (tantis natalibus actis) Membraque deficiunt,splendescunt lumina mentis. Quamvis robora lassa, tua est sapientior ætas.

Indefesse et docte senex, "labor omnia vincit." Tu reverendus eris, series perfecta laborum, Virtutesque tuæ posthac nomenque manebunt; Venturumque tuos sæclum celebrabit honores. Bibliotheca es doctrinæ, atque academia vivens; Dumque sinunt vires, perfer, toleraque labores. Socrate tu sapientior es, et moribus æquas. Non alter, venerande senex, est justior orbe.

Urbanissime vir, quo non est carior ullus, Semper amatus eris cunctis, et dignus amore. Talis sol Phoebe radiantia lumina reddit, Qualis conspicuè fulges comitatibus aster; Atque soles consanguineis sociisque placere. O utinam cari soboles virtute sequantur, Et pariter claram possint quoque degere Vitam. Sed mihi triste piget, parvum sic texere carmen, Quod laudes nomenque tuum non dicere possit.

P. A. N.

THE TEAR OF SYMPATHY.

HOW lovely shines the liquid pearl,

Which, trick'ling from the eye, Pours, in a suff'ring brother's wound, The tear of sympathy!

Its beams a fairer lustre yield

Than richest rubies give,

(Golconda gems, tho' bright, are cold) It cheers, and bids us live.

More clear the tribute of a sigh,

(The offering Pity brings) Than all the sweets which Eastern gales Bear on their golden wings. Softer the tones of Friendship's voice, Its word more kindly flows, More grateful is its simplest lay, Than all which art bestows. When tott'ring anguish racks the soul, When sorrow points its dart; When death, unerring, aims the blow, Which cleaves a brother's heart. Then, Sympathy! 'tis thine to lull The suff'rer's soul to rest;

To feel each pang-to share each throb, And ease his troubled breast.

'Tis thine to aid the sinking frame,

To raise the feeble hand;
To bind the heart by angnish torn,

With sweet Affection's band.

'Tis thine to nurture Hope's fond smile,
To chase Affliction's gloom;
To blunt the cruel throng which crowd
Our passage to the tomb..

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SINCE the sun bath veil'd his light,
I have trod the path of night;
Hear me, Warlock of the glen,
I have shunn'd the haunt of men,
To seek thee in this cheerless hour,
Thee, skill'd in planetary power.
I have pluck'd, to speed my call,
The bay that saps old Ametulle's wall,
I have brought, to speed my care,
The wreath that glow'd on Bertha's hair;
Lily that on Woburn grows,
Flitwick's ivy, Tingrei's rose,
Pure oblations-these may twine
A chaplet for some sylph divine.
Ere I quit this hallow'd shade,
Tell me, Warlock of the glade,
What hovers o'er the soldier's head?-
Seer.

Son of Goding! 'tis thy tread.
Thou mine inmost art may'st move,
'Tis the sacrifice I love ;

Nature's offerings, pure and free,
Human blood delights not me.
Unconscious of all earthly woe
What can Alric seek to know?
STRANGER.

England's joy or England's groan-
Norman William claims her throne.
Hear me, to the camp I pass,
Ne'er again I tread yon grass,
Ne'er I greet fair Woburn's gate,
Till I know my country's fate,
Till that knowledge, death or life,
Be brought by war's decided strife.
Seer.

Where is thy band?

STRANGER.

To-morrow's morn Shall see their flag o'er Chiltern borne, They come a thousand warriors' mail Refulgent gleams thro' Tingrei's vale; Ametulle her youthful valour sends, Thither her steps fair Woburn bends: High Eglesbrie hath join'd the train; And the bold lord of Newport's plain Waves his pennon from afar.

Aylesbury.

SEER.

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